it said he had been strangled inside the consulate during a fistfight. Eighteen Saudis were arrested, including the team of fifteen who had been sent to "confront him". The "fistfight" story was contradicted on 25 October when Saudi Arabia's attorney general said the murder was premeditated. Many Saudi critics have been reported missing under suspicious circumstances. On 16 November 2018, the Saudi Arabian government organized Islamic funeral prayers in absentia for Jamal Khashoggi in al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Madinah after the morning Friday and in the Great Mosque of Mecca after the Friday Jumu'ah prayer. In a 20 June 2019 interview, Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir acknowledged to CNN's Christiane Amanpour that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was "gruesome", but he said he disagreed with the conclusion of the United Nations' 101-page report, calling it "flawed". In September 2019, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated that he bears the responsibility for Khashoggi's assassination by Saudi operatives "because it happened under my watch", according to a preview of a PBS documentary. However, he denied having any prior knowledge of the plot. On 23 December 2019, a Saudi Arabian court sentenced five officials to death and three others to 24 years in prison. Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director Lynn Maalouf stated that Saudi Arabia's verdict against the officials was a "whitewash". In a statement released, she said, "The trial has been closed to the public and to independent monitors....the verdict fails to address the Saudi authorities’ involvement." On 22 May 2020, Khashoggi's children pardoned the five officials, which means they will be set free rather than executed. On 7 September 2020, eight people tied to the murder were sentenced to prison. Their sentences ranged from 7 to 20 years. Saudi Arabia did not release their names. Turkish response On 31 October, Istanbul's chief prosecutor released a statement saying that Khashoggi had been strangled as soon as he entered the consulate building, and that his body was dismembered and disposed of. This was the first such accusation by a Turkish government figure. His body may have been dissolved in acid, according to Turkish officials, and his last words captured on an audio recording were reported as "I can't breathe." The recording was subsequently released by the Turkish government. Officials believed this recording contained evidence that Khashoggi was assassinated on the orders of the Saudi royal family. On